Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to tackle third party websites from posing as Government entities.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Government organisations work collaboratively to address misleading websites. Websites that directly attempt to defraud users (for example, by copying government design and logos) are tackled directly and taken down.
Sites can be challenged through the company that sold them the web address, or through organisations that administer the web address system. Government may also pursue site owners through trading standards bodies or through direct legal challenge.
Some sites are able to operate within legal boundaries (for example, by displaying disclaimers on their sites). In these cases, government works to optimise government sites for indexing by search engines so they are easy to find. Where identified, we challenge sites that pay for prominent positioning in search returns by reporting them to the search provider.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of striking a medal for humanitarian service; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government is committed to consideration of how best to recognise humanitarian service in a range of ways, including existing honours and medals and as part of wider
developments in medallic recognition. Examples include the announcement in 2015 of the Ebola Medal, which recognised people from both military and civilian organisations for
their brave service to assist communities in West Africa. This new medal was announced alongside existing honours in the Orders of St. Michael and St. George and the Order of
the British Empire for people whose contribution to tackling the crisis was part of well-established outstanding service.
Recommendations for new medals are made to HM The Queen by the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will undertake a review of the requirement for EU citizens to fill in a UC1 or EC6 form in order to participate in the 2019 European elections.
Answered by Kevin Foster
It is the Government's intention to respect the 2016 referendum result and leave the European Union with a deal as soon as possible, meaning we will not participate in future European Parliamentary elections.
The Electoral Commission will produce a review at the recent European Elections and the Government will consider its conclusions.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the information communicated to EU citizens on the requirement for them to fill in a UC1 or EC6 form in order to participate in the 2019 European elections.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government took all the legal steps necessary to prepare for the European Parliamentary
elections and put in place all the necessary legislative and funding elements to enable Returning
Officers to make their preparations required for the polls on 23 May
Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) are under a statutory duty to ensure people who are eligible
to vote in elections have the opportunity to do so. For the recent European Parliamentary elections
that included making sure relevant citizens of the EU who are resident in the UK and registered to
vote in local elections were made aware they needed to complete a voter registration and
declaration form (commonly referred to as a UC1 or EC6 form) in order to enable them to vote
The Electoral Commission supported EROs in the discharge of this function and encouraged them
to take additional steps to raise awareness of this requirement locally, through social media
channels and other means.
The Electoral Commission supported EROs in the discharge of this function. It issued guidance on
the 4th April which recommended that EROs should identify EU citizens who are on the local
government register and send them a declaration form and supporting information explaining how
they can declare their intent to vote in these elections in the UK should they wish to.
In line with their statutory duty, the Electoral Commission will be publishing a report into the
administration of the polls later this year.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will launch an inquiry into why some EU citizens were prevented from voting in the 2019 European elections.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government took all the legal steps necessary to prepare for the European Parliamentary elections and put in place all the legislative and funding elements to enable Returning Officers to make their preparations required for the polls.
In line with their statutory duty, the Electoral Commission will be publishing a report into the administration of the polls later this year, which the Government will carefully consider in due course.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of EU citizens who were prevented from voting in the European Elections held on 23 May 2019.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government took all the legal steps necessary to prepare for the European Parliamentary
elections and put in place all the legislative and funding elements to enable Returning Officers to
make their preparations required for the polls on 23 May
Electoral Registration Officers are responsible for administering elections at the local level. They
are also under a statutory duty to ensure people who are eligible to vote in elections have the
opportunity to do so and are supported by the Electoral Commission in delivering these functions
The Electoral Commission encouraged EROs to take additional steps to raise awareness of this
requirement locally, through social media channels and other means.
The Electoral Commission supported EROs in the discharge of this function. It issued guidance on
the 4th April which recommended that EROs should identify EU citizens who are on the local
government register and send them a declaration form and supporting information explaining how
they can declare their intent to vote in these elections in the UK should they wish to.
In line with their statutory duty, the Electoral Commission will be publishing a report into the
administration of the polls later this year
Figures on the number of individuals completing forms or details relating to the processing of those
forms are not held centrally by the Government.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department took to ensure that local authorities communicated with EU citizens on the need to fill in a UC1 or EC6 form in order to participate in the 2019 European elections.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government took all the legal steps necessary to prepare for the European Parliamentary
elections and put in place all the necessary legislative and funding elements to enable Returning
Officers to make their preparations required for the polls on 23 May
Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) are under a statutory duty to ensure people who are eligible
to vote in elections have the opportunity to do so. For the recent European Parliamentary elections
that included making sure relevant citizens of the EU who are resident in the UK and registered to
vote in local elections were made aware they needed to complete a voter registration and
declaration form (commonly referred to as a UC1 or EC6 form) in order to enable them to vote
The Electoral Commission supported EROs in the discharge of this function and encouraged them
to take additional steps to raise awareness of this requirement locally, through social media
channels and other means.
The Electoral Commission supported EROs in the discharge of this function. It issued guidance on
the 4th April which recommended that EROs should identify EU citizens who are on the local
government register and send them a declaration form and supporting information explaining how
they can declare their intent to vote in these elections in the UK should they wish to.
In line with their statutory duty, the Electoral Commission will be publishing a report into the
administration of the polls later this year.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to launch a public consultation on civil service pay guidance.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Cabinet Office does not have any plans to hold a public consultation on any elements of the civil service pay remit guidance.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and I met with the General Secretaries of the FDA, Prospect and PCS trade unions on 27 June to discuss the Civil Service pay guidance, which was published on 25 June.
In my capacity as the Minister with responsibility for Civil Service HR, including trade unions, I previously met with the General Secretaries of the FDA and Prospect on the 22 February 2018, and with the PCS General Secretary, on the 27th February 2018.
Cabinet office officials regularly meet with trade union representatives to discuss a range of workforce issues, including pay.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent discussions he has had with trades unions on the civil service pay guidance.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Cabinet Office does not have any plans to hold a public consultation on any elements of the civil service pay remit guidance.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and I met with the General Secretaries of the FDA, Prospect and PCS trade unions on 27 June to discuss the Civil Service pay guidance, which was published on 25 June.
In my capacity as the Minister with responsibility for Civil Service HR, including trade unions, I previously met with the General Secretaries of the FDA and Prospect on the 22 February 2018, and with the PCS General Secretary, on the 27th February 2018.
Cabinet office officials regularly meet with trade union representatives to discuss a range of workforce issues, including pay.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many members of staff have left his Department since 1 January 2015; and how many of those members of staff were nationals of non-UK EU countries.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
I can confirm that since 1 January 2015, 2,115 staff have left my Department (of which 59% was inter-Civil Service movement).
The Civil Service does not routinely collect information on the nationality of civil servants. The information requested is not held.